


In Which Jet Threatens to Kill Zuko

by r3dmi1es



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Everyone Is Gay, Firebending & Firebenders, Jet (Avatar) Lives, M/M, Past Maiko
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2020-05-16 11:59:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19317739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/r3dmi1es/pseuds/r3dmi1es
Summary: Jet lives, shennanigans ensue, Zuko has a gay crisis, and uhh that's pretty much it lol.





	In Which Jet Threatens to Kill Zuko

**Author's Note:**

> Hello I am back from the dead with an ATLA fic! No one's going to read it but hey, love y'all anyway. Let me know what you think in the comments, leave a kudo if you like it, and uhh peace out!

Breathe in, and the temperature of the room rises with the flames surrounding Zuko. Out, and it's cool again. Repeat. Nothing on his mind, just pure focus on the fire, the breath, relaxing. Forget the heavy headpiece in his hair, the robes on his shoulders, the weight of the pedestal he's seated on...Just breathe.

 

In, and out--

 

"Zuko! What's up, dude?"

 

\--and hold back the ever-present urge to kill Sokka.

 

He opens his eyes and sighs. "Hello, Sokka. What do you need?"

 

Sokka grins. "Oh, sorry, did I interrupt your fire nap or something?" He laughs, not sorry at all. "Listen, some old friends of ours are coming to see us today, you should come meet them!"

 

"Old friends?" Zuko says, already getting up to follow Sokka out of the throne room. "Not more swamp people,  _ please." _

 

"Oh, come on, you  _ had _ to meet Huu, he's a legend! A gross, smelly legend!"

 

"He tracked mud on the carpets," Zuko complains (smiling, though).

 

"Well, these guys are old friends of The Duke, so they probably won't track...as  _ much _ mud on the carpet."

 

"Friends of The Duke?"

 

"Yeah, some kids that were in the Freedom Fighters. Did we ever tell you about them? Smellerbee and Longshot are coming today."

 

Zuko's brain freezes. He keeps walking, can't seem to stop himself, but he's suddenly incapable of coherent thought. "Freedom Fighters," he echoes. "Smellerbee. Longshot."

 

"Yeah, and someone else too, apparently. They were really vague about it in their letter, but we're supposed to see another friend of theirs today, too."

 

"Oh," Zuko says dumbly, and they turn a corner and see their friends. Katara, torn between anger, relief, and confusion; Toph, largely disinterested; Aang, taking everything in stride but obviously confused as well. Smellerbee and Longshot, looking the same as always, but happier.

 

And Jet. Tall, cocky, confident, making some joke about being "in the damn firelord's foyer," and turning to see Sokka and Zuko. And then he freezes too.

 

"Jet? Oh my god, we thought you were dead!" Sokka blurts out.

 

"Yeah, we found a really good doctor," Smellerbee says. "Apparently it wasn't as bad as it looked. Hey, Li, what are you doing here?"

 

"He's the fire lord," Jet says, still staring at Zuko.

 

Zuko stares back. "My name's actually Zuko. Sorry for lying to you earlier, Smellerbee."

 

"What? What are you talking about?" Aang asks, nervous.

 

"We met in Ba Sing Se," Smellerbee explains. "Jet got obsessed with the idea of him and his uncle being firebenders, it's what got him thrown in jail."

 

"Well, I was right, wasn't I?" Jet proclaims, finally turning away. "See, guys, I told you I wasn't crazy."

 

"Guess so," Zuko agrees quietly, turning away.

 

"Listen, Sokka, you  _ gotta _ hear these stories. We went around liberating old Earth Kingdom villages after the war, right? Well, in Makapu Village, right, there was this platypus bear..."

 

\----

 

Zuko leans over the edge of the courtyard bridge, crumbling bread between his fingers. Turtleducks gather below, quacking happily.

 

A blade presses against his throat, and he drops the chunk of bread. It lands on a turtleduck's head, and they scatter.

 

"Good to know," Jet hisses into his ear, "I can kill you any time, if I need to."

 

Zuko swallows. "The avatar would kill you if you did." It's a bluff. Aang wouldn't hurt a fly, he couldn't even kill Ozai. And Jet doesn't have any bending to begin with.

 

Jet laughs; he knows too. "Listen,  _ Zuko, _ I don't trust firebenders. Never have, never will. But," he sighs, steps back; Zuko turns to face him, battle-ready, but his hands are already up in surrender. "I'm trying to be a better person. Someone the avatar would approve of, for the kids' sake. So, I can pretend for a while. Play nice with the big scary fire lord. Just remember, if you make one wrong move? I can and will kill you. We clear?"

 

Zuko nods. Then, because he's an idiot, as Jet walks away, he says, "You remind me of Katara. She said pretty much the same thing, when I joined up with them."

 

Jet pauses, then grins over his shoulder. "Don't let her hear you say that. She hates me and everything I stand for." He walks away.

 

A turtleduck scampers up the bridge and bites Zuko on the ankle.

 

\----

 

_ I'm leaving you Zuko. I just can't stand to be around you anymore. Don't try to follow me. I love you, but it's not enough, not when you can't love me back. So, I need to get over it. You do too. I'm safe, I'm not being kidnapped, I wrote this of my own volition. Ty Lee can confirm. Don't try to get my location out of her; she won't know, and she wouldn't tell you if she did. _

 

_ I'd say sorry for not saying goodbye in person, but you deserve it after what you did to me during the war. _

 

_ Goodbye, Zuko. _

 

_ Mai _

 

Zuko crumples the note in his hand, regrets it, and smooths it out again, before folding it carefully and placing it back in the drawer beside his desk.  _ It's been years, _ he reminds himself.  _ Let it go. _

 

He pulls on a robe and wanders through the halls quietly. He doesn't have to sneak around the palace anymore, not as the fire lord, but he still finds himself avoiding the guards.  _ Uncle, _ he thinks,  _ What should I do? I haven't been happy here in a long time, but I can't leave. I have to stay here, be the ruler, or the fire nation will turn back to the way it was. How am I supposed to do this all alone? _

 

Iroh's voice responds (all imagined, of course, and probably worthless because it's just Zuko, not his uncle giving the advice),  _ Find ways to be happy with the life you have. Reconnect with old friends, and find people you love. Do not despair, nephew; this is what you were born to do. Heal the fire nation and the wounds she has caused. _

 

"But no pressure, right?" Zuko mutters to himself, chuckling a bit.

 

"What?" Zuko jumps, turns, and Jet is there, laughing. "Who are you talking to, dumbass?"

 

"No one," Zuko says. "Why are you here? Did you decide to kill me or something?"

 

"Or something," Jet agrees. "It's fun, sneaking around all the guards. I just happened to see you doing the same. Felt nostalgic, you could say," he says with a grin, that same dangerous grin that Zuko had followed without a second thought on the boat to Ba Sing Se. "Do you make a habit of hiding from your own guards, oh great fire lord Zuko?" He bows mockingly at the end, and Zuko frowns.

 

"Don't call me that," he says.

 

"Oh? What, are you expecting me to still call you  _ Li? _ That ship has sailed, your highness, I'm sorry. It sailed when you became a firebender!" His eyes are manic, suddenly. Zuko's almost reminded of his sister.

 

"I've been a firebender my whole life," he says. "Call me Zuko."

 

Jet's quiet, for a moment. "You know, I don't think I believe it, yet. I've never actually seen you bend. Prove it for me."

 

"What? Why?"

 

"Because I need to stop thinking of Li when I see you. I need to see you as Zuko, as the firebending bastard you are, or I'll go crazy."

 

"...Come on, then."

 

\----

 

They end up in the Agni Kai arena, somehow. ("It's a firebending dueling place, right? Come on, it's perfect!" Zuko couldn't say no.)

 

"Go on, then, do your thing," Jet says, gesturing with his hooked blade. Both his swords are out, and he's standing further away than he needs to. His stance is relaxed, but Zuko can tell he's ready to fight anyway.

 

Zuko closes his eyes and takes a few breaths, until it's steam blowing out of his nostrils instead. He moves, following the forms of the dragons, and fire follows him, lighting up the room slowly. He looks everywhere except where Jet is standing. Colors flicker in the flames.

 

He finishes the form, lets the fire dissipate, and finally looks at Jet. There's an unreadable expression on his face.

 

"Well," Zuko says, "Was that enough for you?"

 

Jet doesn't say anything, just stares.

 

Zuko looks away, looks around. "You know," he says quietly, "This is where I got the scar on my eye. My father, Ozai, challenged me to an Agni Kai for speaking out of turn. I wouldn't fight him, so he burned half my face off. I was thirteen. The fire nation hurt everybody, including itself, during the war. I'm trying to fix that just as much as you are."

 

He turns to look back. Jet's already gone.

 

\----

 

Zuko wakes up the next morning with a heavy weight pressing down on him. He yelps in surprise, but Jet clamps a hand down on his mouth. His eyes are blown wide as he hovers over Zuko, manically glaring down at him.

 

"Why can't I get you out of my fucking head, Li?" he hisses. "Fuck, I know that's not your name, you're  _ Zuko, _ the fucking fire lord, not some homeless kid on the streets of Ba Sing Se. You're a firebender! One of the people who killed my whole village! How dare you have a tragic fire nation backstory! How  _ dare _ you firebend like nothing I've ever seen before! How  _ dare  _ you take up all the fucking space in my brain with all your pretty boy shit! I'm supposed to hate you! I  _ do _ hate you! Why can't I get you out of my head!"

 

Zuko yanks the hand off his mouth and struggles to sit up, to look Jet in the eyes from an equal standing. "Jet, calm down," he says, still gripping his hand tightly. "Breathe, you're panicking."

 

Jet shudders, breathing heavily, but eventually the harsh edge in his eyes fade, and he relaxes, slumping to sit beside Zuko, rather than towering above him. "I'm sorry," he says quietly.

 

"It's okay to change your mind about things," Zuko says. "I learned that in Ba Sing Se, and again at the eclipse. The war's over. We don't have to be the same people we were then."

 

Jet leans against his shoulder heavily. "The person I am right now is pretty pathetic, though. I'm as bad as I was in the forest, killing innocent civilians just to prove I was stronger than the fire nation."

 

"The person you are now is someone trying to change, and someone who recognized that you needed to change," Zuko says. "That's the most difficult thing I've ever experienced. You realized it much more quickly than I did. That's the furthest thing from pathetic I could possibly think of."

 

"...Thanks, I guess."

 

Zuko pauses, then says, "Listen, can we start over? Stop thinking about the past and move forward?"

 

Jet laughs, and sits up. "Okay, sure. Won't be the most ridiculous thing I've done in the past hour."

 

Zuko smiles and holds his hand out. "I'm Zuko, a fire lord who has no idea what he's doing."

 

Jet takes his hand and shakes it. "I'm Jet, a criminal who wants to change. Nice to meet you, Zuko."

 

"Nice to meet you, Jet."

 

\----

 

"So, she just left? Just like that?"

 

"Just like that. She left a note," Zuko adds. "Same thing I did to her when I deserted the fire nation, really."

 

"Yeah, but that was during a war. You get excuses for stuff you did in the war," Jet scoffs.

 

"Not really," Zuko says sadly. "She was really mad when I left her, war or no war. I deserved it, honestly."

 

"Maybe, I guess, but did you deserve her leaving you?"

 

"She said I didn't love her, or something. Said she loved me, but she knew I'd never love her." Zuko has the whole note memorized, he could tell Jet exactly what she said, but...he wants to act like he's moved on, at least.

 

Jet raises an eyebrow at him. "Dude, she thinks you're gay."

 

"What? No. Why would she think that?"

 

"Let me see that," Jet says, snatching the note out of Zuko's hands. "Let's see... 'you can't love her back,' because you're totally gay... "Ty Lee can confirm she's safe,' because she's also totally gay and probably told Mai that you were... 'she can't stand being around you anymore,' because damn if it's not tough being in love with a gay guy... Yeah, she totally has you pegged as a gay guy! Pun intended."

 

Zuko flushes. "But...but I'm not, though. Right?"

 

Jet holds his hands up. "Hey, don't ask me, that's a you question," he says with a laugh. "Whether you are or aren't isn't a problem, though, despite what daddy might have told you way back when. I mean, look at your friends. Toph's gay, Aang probably doesn't know or care what he he is, Sokka and Katara are both bi on some level, I'm bi... hell, Smellerbee was born male, and look at her now! Oh, and every single one of the Kyoshi warriors is either bi or a lesbian, don't let the face paint fool you. And from what I've heard about your sister, I bet she's probably gay too. It's not exactly rare around here."

 

Zuko has to sit down. "...What?" he croaks out.

 

Jet looks at him. "Oh, don't tell me you didn't notice any of that. It was obvious!"

 

"Your forgetting my sheltered upbringing," Zuko points out weakly.

 

"Yeah, that and your innate denseness. Listen, the point is don't worry about it. Just do whatever feels right, and it'll all work out."

 

"Yeah," Zuko says, "I'll get right on that."

 

\----

 

"Zuko, I could feel you being nervous from halfway across the fire nation, what's going on," Toph grumbles, barging into Zuko's study.

 

"Could you really?" Zuko wonders.

 

"Not the point. Come on, what's up, you pansy?"

 

Zuko sighs and turns to face her. "I don't want to talk about it," he tries.

 

"Yes you do. Talk."

 

He groans. "Fine. Jet and I were talking about...Mai, and, well...Are you gay?"

 

Toph laughs loudly. "Seriously? You guys were talking about your ex girlfriend and  _ my _ sexuality came up? That's funny."

 

Zuko flushes. "Sorry, I just--"

 

"It's fine, Zuko. Yes, I am gay, I like girls."

 

"How did you know, though?"

 

Toph frowns, and leans back. "Well, I didn't, for a while. Actually, I used to think I had a crush on Sokka. He was one of my first friends, but when we met up with Suki on our way to Ba Sing Se he got way more distant, because he had a crush on her. I didn't like that, and I thought it must mean I had a crush on him. Turns out I just didn't want to lose my friends. It wasn't until much later that I realized I liked girls, though."

 

"When did you realize?"

 

"Well, probably around the time that Combustion Man put me and Katara in jail!"

 

"His name's not--"

 

"I don't care. Anyway, I really thought I was gonna die there, trapped in that wooden cage. I thought, 'This is it. This is the end.' And around then I realized how glad I was that it was Katara there with me. If I had to die, it was nice dying with her." Toph is quiet, for a moment. Then, she grins. "And that's how I figured out I had a big gay crush on Katara! Don't tell Aang."

 

Zuko frowns. "Shouldn't it be, 'Don't tell Katara?'"

 

"Nah, I don't care if she finds out. Aang would be mad at me if he did, though, and nobody wants that."

 

"Fair."

 

"So, Zuko, did my story help you with your big gay revelation?" Toph says suddenly, grinning widely.

 

"I--I don't know. Who said my sexuality was in question?"

 

Toph rolls her eyes. "Liar, you know the answer." She doesn't bother answering his question.

 

Zuko sits, and thinks. He thinks of Mai, his childhood friend. The girl he always knew had a crush on him (how could he not, with Azula around?), the girl he always kind of figured he'd end up with. Pretty, but he was almost as awkward around her as he was around Jee.

 

Then he thinks of Jet. Tall, handsome, confident. The boy who asked him to steal food from the captain together, who made his stomach do flips every time he looked at Zuko. The man who was terrified of Zuko the firebender, and angry, but decided to change anyway. For him, maybe.

 

"Yeah," Zuko says eventually. "I suppose I do."

 

\----

 

"I think I am gay," Zuko admits one night, at Ember Island. Waves crash against the beach.

 

Jet looks at him. "Yeah?"

 

Zuko leans back against the sand, looks up at the stars. "Yeah. I guess Mai was right."

 

Jet chuckles, lying down beside him. "Guess so." There's a moment of silence. "I'm glad you're gay," Jet finally says.

 

Zuko glances over. "Yeah? Why?"

 

Jet sits up just enough to hover above Zuko's face. "Makes it a lot easier to do this," he says, and presses  his lips against Zuko's.

 

_ Yeah, _ Zuko thinks later.  _ That's a pretty good reason. _

**Author's Note:**

> Love y'all <3


End file.
